Iowa’s early-season offensive surge gets a much sharper exam in Week 4, and the guy in the middle of it all is not backing down.
Hank Brown, now the Hawkeyes’ starting quarterback, heads into Michigan with the kind of confidence that usually travels well. Asked about nerves before the trip to The Big House, Brown kept it simple: “Man, I’m fired up.”
That’s a fitting tone for a player who has already turned heads in a season that looked far different a few weeks ago. Iowa’s offense has opened with a jolt, averaging 477 yards per game through the first three contests. The ground game has done most of the heavy lifting, rolling for 268 yards per game, while the quarterback situation has kept the passing side from looking even better.
Brown’s rise has been one of the bigger surprises. He began last season as Mark Gronowski’s top backup, struggled in his first appearance against Indiana, and later saw Jeremy Hecklinski move ahead of him on the depth chart.
At that point, Brown’s path in Iowa City looked cloudy. Instead, he kept working, impressed enough in the offseason to stay in the mix, and then stunned plenty of people when Kirk Ferentz named him the week-one starter.
Since then, Brown has held the job, and he’s made the most of the opportunity. Through three career starts, he has looked efficient and steady, even while sharing snaps with Hecklinski at times.
His best outing came in the non-conference finale against Northern Iowa, when he completed all 12 of his passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns. For an Iowa quarterback, that kind of perfection stands out.
The bigger question now is how that play translates against a much tougher opponent. Iowa has not seen anything close to Michigan’s caliber yet, though the Hawkeyes have handled the games they were supposed to handle. Outside of the close game against Iowa State, the first three matchups haven’t been particularly tight.
Now Brown gets his first real road test, and it comes in front of 107,000 at Michigan. It will be his first start - and really his first meaningful snaps at all - in that kind of environment.
The challenge is obvious. The crowd will be loud, the setting will be hostile, and Michigan’s defense will be a different level of problem.
Still, Iowa enters with more offensive balance than it has shown in a long time. If the offensive line can keep Brown clean, the Hawkeyes have a chance to keep the momentum going. It won’t be easy to crack the Wolverines, but Brown has already shown enough poise to make this a game worth watching.
In Other News...
Braeden Jackson Just Added To Iowas Walk-On Tradition
Braeden Jacksons name already carries some football weight in Iowa circles, and now the walk-on running back has given Hawkeye fans another reminder of why that tradition still resonates. In a notable game, he flashed the kind of burst and versatility that can turn a roster afterthought into a real storyline, piling up 125 rushing yards, adding 24 more as a receiver and finding the end zone twice.
It fits the family history, too. Jackson is the son of Fred Jackson, the former Coe College standout who went from unrecruited long shot to a nine-season NFL career with the Buffalo Bills, and Braeden followed a similarly determined path after a strong high school career as both a football player and track star. He chose to walk on at Iowa in part because of his fathers connection to the coaching staff, and performances like this only deepen the sense that the Hawkeyes may have found another name worth remembering. [Read more 🡒]
Braeden Jackson Just Made Iowas Backfield Picture A Lot Tougher
Braeden Jackson turned a lopsided afternoon into something worth watching for Iowa. In the Hawkeyes 55-0 win over Northern Iowa, the second-year running back piled up 125 rushing yards and scored two touchdowns, continuing the kind of steady rise that has made him easy to notice in a crowded backfield. A preferred walk-on who arrived in December 2024, Jackson has been one of the quieter development stories on the roster, but his progress has been hard to miss.
What stands out most is how much cleaner and more complete his game looks now. Iowa quarterback Hank Brown and head coach Kirk Ferentz have both pointed to Jacksons improved awareness and physical development, and his background helps explain why he keeps trending up. As the son of former NFL running back Fred Jackson, he has had the benefit of football knowledge at home, and it is starting to show on the field in a way that could make the Hawkeyes backfield even harder to sort out. [Read more 🡒]
Ferentz Sends Iowa Fans A Promising Message Before Michigan Test
Iowa is heading into its first Big Ten game of the season with a familiar kind of test waiting on the other side, and Kirk Ferentz spent part of the buildup offering a reassuring look at his roster. The Hawkeyes are set to face No. 18 Michigan on Sept. 26, and Ferentz said the recovery process is moving in the right direction for several key players, including Kamari Moulton and Bryce Hawthorne, as the team tries to get healthier at an important point on the schedule.
The matchup itself brings the bigger challenge, of course, and Ferentz made clear that Iowa will need its defense locked in against a Michigan offense led by quarterback Bryce Underwood. For a Hawkeyes team trying to open conference play on solid footing, the combination of improved health and a stern test against a ranked opponent gives this week a little extra weight, even before the game kicks off. [Read more 🡒]